Digital Ad Spending Poised To Rise

B2B Firms Estimate 9.9% Hike

Advertising's future is looking increasingly pixilated. A new survey from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business reveals that both B2B and B2C product and service companies plan to increase investment in digital advertising spending over the next 12 months.

The dollars that companies invest in the social media sub-segment of digital advertising is poised to increase over the next 12 months, according to Duke. In August, for example, social media ads accounted for 6.6% of marketers' budgets. Within the next year, that share will climb to 9.1%, and in five years it will hit 15.8% of budget spend, according to forecasts from the survey.

This August, the B2B service industry reported the highest percentage of marketing budget going to social ads. Still, over the next 12 months, B2C service and products firms will spend a greater percentage of their budgets on social. Despite the rising investment, businesses are still uncertain about how effective social is in building business. Nearly half of marketers in the Duke survey said they hadn't been able to show the impact of social marketing their business.